Ashley Hughes is lead author of a new paper in the Journal of Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness
Ashley M. Hughes is the lead author of a new publication, "How can Personal Protective Equipment be best used and reused: A closer look at donning and doffing procedures." This paper features collaborative work between BHIS professor (Ashley M. Hughes), BHIS SAFE-T Lab doctoral student (Trang ND Pham), Indiana University School of Medicine clinicians (Devin Doos, Rami Ahmed), and Wayne University patient safety expert (Paul Barach) has just been accepted for publication in the Journal of Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness.
Hughes AM, Doos D, Ahmed R, Pham T, Barach P. How can Personal Protective Equipment be best used and reused: A closer look at donning and doffing procedures. Journal of Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. August 2022. In Press.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the crisis of personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages have affected healthcare worldwide, leading to reusing of PPE beyond the standard of care. PPE reuse increases occupational exposure risk by health care workers (HCW) to both COVID-19 and other contagious diseases. The current literature on contamination during PPE use heavily focused on specific pieces of PPE (e.g., mask, gloves), and storage or doffing area spatial design.
By using a participatory design approach to task analysis to identify behaviors related to HCW safety related to reusing PPE, this paper is among the first of its kind to contribute to the literature about real-world compounded risks and variations in PPE donning and doffing practices.
Keep your eyes out for the in-press publication. In the meantime, if you have any questions or interest, please feel free to contact the lead author at amhughes@uic.edu.